STATE exco for Tourism Development, Heritage, Culture and Arts, Yeoh Soon Hin hope Malaysia Airports Sdn Berhad (MASB) could be able to find a solution to address flooding issues at the Penang International Airport as soon as possible.
“I will be arranging a meeting soon with the relevant airport authorities to discuss solutions to overcome flooding woes in the area ,” Yeoh said when asked to comment on yesterday’s flooding at the Penang International Airport.
“Yesterday the flood at the airport’s departure lounge was caused by continous heavy rainfall for one and a half hours starting from 8.30am, with rainfall recorded at 48.8mm within 90 minutes. Incidences of flooding at the airport has been recorded since 2012.
“I urge Malaysia Airports Holdings to look into the cause so that a similar incident would not recur. The airport gives tourists the first impression of the city. This incident should not have happen as it would present a negative image of Penang and may also affect future tourism programs like Malaysia/ China Culture Exchange in 2020.
“I hope all the departments can cooperate with the Penang government to turn Penang into a city of international standard,” he stressed.
Yeoh was speaking to the media at a function held today at Komtar to update improvement in international tourist arrivals. Also present were chief executive officer of Penang Global Tourism, Ooi Chok Yan.
He said there is an increase of about 15.72% for total international arrivals for 2018, compared to 2017.
“In 2018, there were 1, 297, 158 passengers arrival compared to 1,120, 908 in 2017. For international flights frequency recorded in Oct 2018, it is 293 compared to 234 in Dec 2017.
For the new direct flights in 2018, Yeoh said Penang – Hanoi by Air Asia which started from July 1, operate 4x per week, and Penang -Doha by Qatar Airways started from February 6, operate 7x per week.
While for increased flight frequencies in 2018, he commented among others Penang – Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific increased from 10x per week to 12x.
Yeoh added that Penang is actively promoting tourism with travel agencies in Taiwan, Vietnam, Philipines and those of other countries.
Story by Danny Ooi
Pixs by Wong Boon Foei.